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by Eric Hansen

“What is God’s will for me?”
“How do I know God’s will for me?”
“How do I know what God wants me to do?”

These are very common questions that many Christians ask, whether they are new or seasoned believers. These questions also plagued me for years, and I only recently just discovered the answer to them. Through this blog post, I want to share my journey of how I discovered the answers to these questions and how you can discover them for yourself as well.

First, we should examine what God’s will is for Christians as a collective whole, meaning what each one of us is responsible for carrying out regardless of what spiritual gifts we are blessed with.

1 Peter 2:13-15 instructs us to submit ourselves, for the Lord’s sake, to every human authority so that by doing good we should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Now, this doesn’t mean we should blindly go along with whatever the politicians say we should follow (especially if it goes against the characteristics or attributes of God, such as supporting homosexuality or abortion). But, the idea is we should not simply rebel because we disagree with what is said or done, because through these times we can glorify God. Instead of being wrapped up in anger, judgment, or envy (for example when certain people gain favor more than others by political decisions), we should stay faithful in our dependence on our Father to demonstrate we don’t need worldly possessions to be joyous (see verses 11-12 of the same chapter).

At its core, this basically equates to the general will of God being that we are to glorify Him in and through all things – the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, the happiness and the sorrows. In apologetics, there’s the concept of the “common moral law,” meaning whether you’re a believer or not, you understand things such as murder is wrong, stealing is bad, etc. The same principle applies here in that regardless of our gifts, we all as Christians know we should glorify God in our circumstances and situations.

So now that there’s an understanding of responsibility shared between all Christians, how does the individual discover God’s will specific to them?

Through the Holy Spirit, we are given various gifts to glorify God in specific ways. While this won’t be an in-depth examination of each gift, the categorical listings are Administration, Apostleship, Helping, and Teaching (1 Corinthians 12:28); Discernment, Faith, Knowledge, Leadership, and Wisdom (1 Corinthians 12:8-10); Exhortation/Encouragement, Giving, Mercy, and Service (Romans 12:8-10); and Pastoring and Evangelism (Ephesians 4:11). Some of these gifts are mentioned in shared verses and elsewhere in the Bible, but this is a starting point toward a deeper study. There are two ways you can start examining where God may be leading you and wanting you to go, and both will happen eventually.

The first way is to look at what abilities you currently possess and what brings you joy. For me, it is programming and teaching/education. Initially, I pursued pastorship as a youth pastor, yet it didn’t feel like I was doing anything more than pounding a round peg in a triangle hole. I’ll explain a bit more of this in the next way. However, having looked at the abilities God had already blessed me with, I started asking God what ways I can use my programming skills to further God’s kingdom. This has led me to start my own freelancing/consulting business where I develop websites for nonprofits and faith-based organizations like churches, ministries, missionaries, etc.

The second way to examine where God may be leading you is to speak to one or more mature Christian people about discovering your gifts and how they can be used. When I did this, I was given an assessment quiz by each of them (to this day I’ve taken 2 different quizzes). There is no standardized assessment for this, but the questions are generally topical (i.e.: “On a scale of 1-4 how often do you help those in need?”). Each time they have come back with similar results leading more toward teaching and evangelism. So I took this as, “Hey, God’s wanting me to be a pastor!” Since then, I’ve learned there’s more than one way to teach, evangelize, and share the gospel with others.

It is important to get an outside perspective on this though. You may know yourself better than your pastor knows you, but the truth of the matter is we also tend to be our worst critics. There may be ways you can build up your gifts in “unconventional ways” as well. For example, I work in the A/V and live streaming area of my church, which has nothing to do with websites, but I can share my wisdom with others to help them grow in that position as well. I would have never gone after this if I didn’t talk to my pastor and asked how I can serve the church, and I am so far away from the pulpit that I can just focus on God’s Word.

Any Christian serious about fulfilling God’s will may often need to ask these questions and follow both of these steps. During these times, we have to remember it’s okay to ask questions and not know, as long as we seek the answer from wise believers. One of the worst things we can do as Christians is be stagnant in our faith breeding good works.

Also, it’s important to remember that God can change your gifts as He pleases. So one day you may have the gift of amazing teaching but the next you’re standing in the choir or collecting tithes, or even just sitting in the pews instead of standing in the pulpit. It’s wise to understand that God knows where we need to be and to be content with where He has us.

In the end, it really doesn’t matter what we do as long as we are obedient to God and glorify Him. As the body of Christ, we are to help each other function as a collective whole, but in all we do, we should first and foremost do it by showing God’s love to others. As we continue to grow in our faith, we should definitely seek deeper ways to glorify and demonstrate Him, but we often make it more complicated than it really needs to be. He has already revealed to us the ways in which we can do these things, we just need to start taking steps out of our comfort areas and put our dependence on Him.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

It’s been a little bit since I wrote my last article, and I’ll be finishing up my series on John 17 soon to get into some other topics I’m excited to write about. However, there’s a huge red flag waving its prominent face across all of Christianity that needs to be addressed: temptation.

When people think of temptation or research temptation, most results seem to be either more sexualized or ambiguous. Especially as a male, the only temptation people seem to want to talk about is masturbation, porn, and homosexuality (sometimes summarized as “lust”). While that is a very legitimate use for the term “temptation,” there’s much more to that. There’s greed, envy, depression, murder, etc. that can all be considered temptation as well.

If you’re wondering if something is a temptation, be honest with yourself and ask, “Is this keeping me from spending time with God?” Be honest. A job is not necessarily a temptation as you need to provide for yourself and your family through the gifts or opportunities God blessed you with. You also need time to recharge your emotional/mental batteries whichever way you do so (whether an introvert or an extrovert). But if you have a Bible and your phone next to you and you find that the phone is more enticing, that’s a temptation.

Over the past few months, and quite possibly way longer than that, I’ve been depressed. It never really crossed my mind to get checked for it because it was always taboo in my family. But recently, my therapist told me I really need to get some medication to help with my mood. I wasn’t suicidal, and I haven’t been for decades at this point, but the feelings I felt were the same as when I would do self-harm. I mention this just to paint a picture of the heavy, dark cloud that hung over me. It was enough to impact my day-to-day living but not enough to be alarming to myself. Most days just felt like any other until more recently when I sensed something was wrong but had only apathy about recovery.

This, for me, was temptation. It kept me away from God. Whenever I would finally read the Bible, I’d either find some joy or nothing at all, but in either scenario I felt alone. Each prayer I prayed felt like it just bounced right back to me, even if I was outside. Bluntly, it sucked, and I can’t imagine how Jesus felt when He had to cry out to God, “Why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). David also shared the same sentiment in Psalm 22:1-2. The more I felt like nothing mattered in my life, the more I felt like my spiritual life was dead as well, and evil (whether Satan or demons) knew that all too well. This effectively just meant a cycle of emptiness growing bigger and bigger, just like any other sin from temptation that is left untreated.

There are many people who go through things like these and never speak about it. Most employees at my gym are veterans, and all have expressed that they or someone close to them from their squad either contemplated or committed suicide or know someone who has.

This is why having a firm grounding in faith and a home church is important, and this is groundbreaking for me to say as I had always been against the idea of a home church. But, for me, the real kicker that started the ball rolling toward improvement was the Holy Spirit pulling it out of me to admit how I’m feeling to the men’s group I’m in. Once that happened, everything just snowballed into me like an avalanche, but in the end it was needed and was in God’s hands.

I ended up going to my doctor and telling him everything that’s gone on lately, and he put me on an antidepressant. Other than my body adjusting to in some annoying ways, that has been worth it so far.

There are many options out there that are healthy, viable, and safe for anyone. A healthy church should by all accounts try to help you in times of need, but there are also friends, family, law enforcement, medics, hospitals, etc. that can help.

My therapist also told me that March and April are the highest months of suicide rates for the year, and perhaps that’s why I was led to write this and share what I have. But, even if not, I want to leave you with the fact that most countries have a hotline for suicide, depression, and crisis matters, and in America that’s dialing 988.

Remember, Jesus loves you!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” - John 17:6-12

Verses 6 through 12 of John 17 are part of a section headlined as “Jesus Prays for His Disciples.” This whole section (vv. 6-19) ultimately applies not only to the disciples but to all believers, which will be covered in a future post. But for now I wanted to focus on vv. 6-12 specifically as it’s the bulk of Jesus’s prayer to us as believers.

The first 3 verses here essentially speak of how Jesus conducted His ministry while on Earth. He simply spoke the Truth as He needed to, when He needed to. It’s littered throughout the gospels how He conducted Himself in different situations and addressed certain people differently.

For example, when He healed the sick, He mostly just thanked the Father for being able to heal the person. When He met with someone struggling in life (the woman at the well, the paraplegic, etc.), then He was often in the middle of or started sharing some introspectives. He spoke to those individuals on a personal level, and the more “alone time” He had with the person, the more personal the discussion could be so they could understand the Truth. Then there were the religious leaders of the time, of course, with whom He was pretty direct and vulgar (for that time period). How Jesus spoke to them would be like in today’s culture if cancel culture was used for good instead of self.

In these verses, though, the important keywords are “you gave me,” “they have obeyed [your word],” and “they accepted them.” The Father puts people into our lives to minister to in some way, and that doesn’t look the same in all circumstances. He uses us to speak the Truth to others just as He used Jesus to do the same 2,000+ years ago. This is one of the reasons why we are and should be joyous of servitude, because even Jesus (part of the Godhead) was a servant in His first coming. However, it’s also important to remember that it’s not our duty to convert people but to share the Truth. The Holy Spirit works along with the Father to soften their heart so that they, too, may believe. We can hear it all we want, but if we don’t truly accept it and obey it, then it’s dead faith. Obeying is following God even when it’s inconvenient or painful, as we should aim to please God above ourselves, family, friends, career, etc.

Verse 9 strikes hard for me, as it is often taught as we should be praying for the enemies against Christ along with fellow believers. Yet Jesus says He is only praying for the ones the Father has sent Him – the ones brought to the Truth. The context of the passage makes it clear exactly why, but it also goes to show that while we should pray for those who are against God that their hearts will soften, we can’t forget to continuously pray for those already in the body of Christ as well. An analogy to this would be our health. If we focus on the external factors that can impact our health, we can’t neglect our actual health as well.

While I’m not a fan of prayers containing “hedge of [something]” like “hedge of protection,” through verses 10 and 11 Jesus asks the Father for protection over the disciples and other believers. As readers of the events that transpired afterwards, we can understand why this was said, but it’s pretty clear that Jesus was asking for parent-like protection over the children who would be doing nothing but fighting an uphill battle for as long as they remained faithful.

The word “protect” in verse 11 is an active imperative (a command), so Jesus isn’t just saying “Father, if it’s convenient for you to do so,” but He is saying, “Father, I know this is going to be a very difficult, very possibly deadly experience for all, so I need you to watch over them.” There is so much emphasis on these words that it’s almost a demand, but Jesus knows it’s all in the Father’s will. However, He can still express the importance and how much He loves the disciples (and us) by the emphasis. So, let’s rejoice as well in knowing that Jesus loved us so much that He came to the Father for us to protect us, to guard and watch over each of his sons, bought by the blood of Jesus into adopted sonship with the Father.

I’d like to close this out in a consideration of speaking the truth to those around us, and even ourselves. We should always lead with prayer, seeking to put God first in what we say rather than what we believe we should say. This removes us from the equation and lets God drive the conversation where it needs to be for His will. Then we need to remember that no matter the outcome, we have our protector in the Word and in our faith. With those, we have God’s blessing that His will be done not only through us but to us. There may be times we suffer for the truth, but there may also be times we plant that seed God waters to soften the heart and bring sight to the dead.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

Merriem Webster offers a few definitions for the word suicide. At its core, each definition is rooted in “destruction of oneself.” When people decide to act on this, most write a letter in some fashion outlining what led them to the decision. Due to the sensitive topic this tends to be, I will preface this now with I am not looking to follow this action. But, on a personal and (more importantly) hopeful message for anyone who is dealing with such considerations, let me explain how the significance of not committing suicide physically led to me doing so spiritually.

While I was in high school, I went through a lot of depression. I experienced much of what adults call “cliché emo(tions)” as a teenager, however real they felt to me at the time. Many times I thought of committing suicide. I remember to this day the vivid hold that I was once under. Everything was planned out and perfect, but something also kept telling me not to. It was a matter of seconds between go and no-go.

I was far from a Christian then in 2004. I was reading the Satanic bible, and I was a strongly-proclaimed agnostic. So to me, it wasn’t God trying to love me til the literal very end.

The connection to that and the present day is staggering as I think about these things under a new light. I can sit here, filling my lungs with the air God blesses me with, and say I’m both dead and alive. I committed suicide in a very real and direct way back in 2018 when I committed my life to Christ, and yet I am living a whole different life. There are a lot of similarities between surrendering your life to Christ and the normal view of suicide, as you’ll see below.

Matthew 16:24-26 is a very popular passage when it comes to understanding surrender to Christ and stepping away from your own desires for the betterment of the Kingdom. But there is so much to unravel with just those 3 verses.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.“

Back then, I didn’t want to deny myself. I’ll call a spade a spade and say I was egocentric in my thinking; I was only focused on my pain, hurt, and despair. I wanted to give in so much, yet at the same time I couldn’t. That was the most fearful part of the experience for me.

This is also one of the hardest parts of becoming a Christian for many, myself included, especially in the individualistic cultures such as America where it’s every person for themself. You have to learn to basically kill yourself; kill your desires to have control to really build that relationship with the Father.

That cross, no matter which scenario we’re talking about, is so unbearably heavy. I get why many people go through with it, but I also get why just as many don’t. Both of those nights, I slept the best in a long time. In both situations, no one knew any differently, that I was going through those thoughts, until I spoke about it.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

To lose your life via physical suicide is ultimate. There is no going back from it when successful. Yet when we become Christians, we tend to only lose part of our life – our old self. Many still compartmentalize their faith and “let” God see parts but not the whole.

Looking back at it, I believe that when I contemplated suicide as a teenager was the first time in my life I felt God’s love just tearing into me to shine His sanctifying light into my soul. I continued to ignore the light for years to come, but He never left me no matter how much I ran away.

Now, as a Christian, the view is a little bit different. I was okay with dying from my old self to become new, but I didn’t know what that looked like. As one not brought up in the church, I felt like no one really understood the confusion I had no matter how I tried to explain it. What it finally took was just reading the Bible and long-night prayers that caused me to literally cry out to the Father.

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

When you (try to) commit suicide, you’re forfeiting your soul to the reasoning of the action. For me, I was forfeiting to the thoughts that wouldn’t leave me.

When you surrender to Christ, you’re forfeiting your soul to Christ. For me, this is letting go of having control over everything.

I really wish I could say that the span of time between 2004 and 2018 was full of great discoveries, peace, etc., but very few moments come to mind. I went through some bad relationships before finding my soulmate and marrying her. The feelings of desertion from those who I thought were close to me only grew deeper. It truly wasn’t until 2018 when I started realizing what unconditional love meant. Yet it took even longer for me to realize what grace really is. It’s important to realize that Christ is so close to us that not only did He die and resurrect for us, but He did so to bring us in such a deep relationship with the Father. He took our sins upon himself on that cross, bleeding out in agony with his bones slowly breaking, out of love for the Father and us.

I saved my teenage life to continue living in a hell that had marginal improvements throughout, to end my old life and live anew. It wasn’t until I realized I needed saving that I also realized I already had a savior. Have you committed spiritual suicide through dying to yourself and allowing Jesus to save you?

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

This is the start of John 17, so it’s a continuation of chapter 16, but just in these 6 verses we can see where Christ’s focus is in his ministry. Even when He’s talking about Himself, He’s really directing the focus onto the Father.

Jesus is drawing His strength to go through with whatever may come next from God (“Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”) This is like the old adage “help me help you,” but on a whole different level. Not only is the ask and return the act of help, but it’s glory. Yet, how did God glorify Jesus? He was sent through the flogging, bearing of the cross, death, and resurrection. However, as the prayer was answered, Jesus was able to glorify God because of all that He went through due to it being God’s will for mankind’s sake.

Also note here that Jesus didn’t ask for things to be easy. There was no quantifiable condition here at all, just “Whatever it is, Father, bless me with the strength to get through it so people know you love them.” Often, we can find ourselves asking to glorify God but only if it’s easy, painless, and we can stay in our pajamas. I’m just as guilty as the next person with this. It’s easier writing an article compared to talking to strangers face-to-face, and this world is definitely not making it any easier to sacrifice myself to glorify God in that way. But as we go through this chapter of John 17, we’ll see a few recurring themes, one of them being that Christ never takes His focus off of God.

One thing Christians might struggle with, especially when we account for doctrinal and traditional beliefs, is receiving eternal life. There are sects that follow a “works only” or a “works and faith” view on this, and then there are those who view it as “faith only.” Whenever possible in these situations, I look to the words of Jesus to know what to believe. Here, we see Jesus give the answer clearly as “knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ.” This is where I will always wonder why people will say the Bible is inerrant and infallible but they don’t believe Jesus Christ. More importantly, though, we need to also understand who gets eternal life from another perspective; Jesus also says that those who receive it are given to Christ by God. This implies a sovereign God, otherwise how could God give people to Christ as believers?

“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” This should be the crux, the core, and the focus of every Christian ministry out there, whether you’re organized as a ministry or doing it solo. People like to make this difficult as if there’s a secret formula to follow what God wants us to do. Again, if we go back to the what Jesus said, we see this:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
-Matthew 28:19-20

So ultimately, it’s not difficult at all in the sense that it’s not some sort of secret. But it can be the most stressful experience you ever have, depending on where God is leading you. Yet, if you follow in Christ’s footsteps and continue to do His will, then you can be rest assured you will hear “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).

I want to take a moment to also offer clarification on another common aspect that Christians can get tangled up on: what is God’s will for me?

We know Jesus came here to save us – to pay for our sins so we could have eternal life with Him and the Father for eternity. But for those of us who are fully human and not at all divine, there’s a simple formula to check whether you’re in God’s will or not:
1. Does the action, thought, etc. have the characteristics of God?
2. When praying about it, does the Spirit speak to you in a loving or a concerning way?
3. Is the action, thought, etc. supported by the Bible?

The first one might be hard to tell at first, especially if you’re new to the faith. But the more you read the Bible, the more you’ll understand just who God is. For example, it is not God’s will for you to kill or even talk down to someone, as that violates the 10 Commandments. It is a characteristic of God, though, to help someone in need or to defend someone who is being bullied.

WIth the second item, we need to look at the response we get from the Holy Spirit. If you struggle in discerning this, then I suggest speaking to a mature Christian like a pastor or mentor and continue reading the Bible. For me, this is reflected in whether I feel at peace about the circumstance or not. A good way of knowing if the Spirit is guiding you to something or not is looking at the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-25.

The third item is probably one of the biggest ones because it’s also the most ambiguous. There can be times, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, where we have to start thinking more abstractly when situations are not specifically addressed in the Bible. This can also be a very dangerous thing since we can start inserting or taking out things that fit our narrative if we’re not careful. I recommend examining the circumstance under the lens of the Bible with at least one other person. This will help you have a more unbiased opinion of the matter.

In the next post of this series, we will go through more of the body of the chapter of John 17.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

“Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” - Genesis 2:7

Ever have shower thought? You’re taking a shower, bath, out in the pool, etc. and some random thought just pops into your head. That happened to me and is part of the inspiration of this blog post (and this series).

I’ve had asthma ever since I was about 12 (as of this writing, I’m 35). I’ve definitely had my fair share of times I literally could not breathe, almost like I was Adam before God gave him life. When you have an asthma attack, the typical process you follow is to try and relax (stressing about the event only causes the breathing to become more shallow) and use an inhaler. If you’re able, a nebulizer is an even better option, and far more portable now than they were back then. But when you feel lifeless, you just look forward to that next breath.

One time when I was in the doctor’s office going through a bit of an asthma attack, the nurse gave me a nebulizer treatment. During that time, she instructed me to make a closed fist with my thumb inside of the fingers (basically resting on the palm and fingers on top of the thumb), and put my arms and hands to my side. This could be done sitting down, standing up, etc. It opens up your airwaves more and helps you breathe better. There was a sense of “I’m going to be okay,” and it reminded me of when God breathed into Adam.

The objective of the above story is to highlight the importance of life and breathing and how they’re interconnected. It’s also become a very helpful mechanism when I have panic attacks due to my hyper-focusing, leading to catastrophic thinking. It’s led to many thoughts of “God doesn’t love me” and, if you can believe it, worse than that. During a therapy session, my therapist instructed me to read John 17. Ultimately, this is a very beautiful passage of Jesus praying for all believers throughout the world and until the end of time. When reading this passage, it grounds me into the present, even if the present is just the fact I’m reading something or if it’s a feeling washing over me of “God really does love me and He’s right here with me.”

The meaning of the chapter is straightforward as I said above, but like the layers of an onion, the layers of this chapter go deep and are thick with flavor, substance, and reality. It deserves a deeper focus on application and thought. I’ve often heard and believed that the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is the crux of Jesus’s ministry. I also see John 17 being the crux of Jesus’ prayers. Nothing about the chapter is focused on Jesus as a man; it is all God-focused. When you are wanting to reel down the anxiety, it really helps to focus on something other than what you’re stressing about. This is especially a good time to be reading God’s Word.

Hyper-focusing can be a great thing, but it can also be horrible depending on what you end up focusing on. During those times of intense fear and concern, reading this passage has helped bring me to the present and give me that life back spiritually speaking a few times as of late; it is like holding my clenched fists to my sides and God breathing into my nostrils. I want to bring this seed to others and let them enjoy the free gift of God’s Word as well, and I hope you will remember this passage and focus on it during your own times of anxiety.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

While this topic isn’t strictly related to having ADHD, having such does complicate matters more. But first, it’s important to define some terms. An introvert is a person who regains energy by being either alone or in smaller group settings. Typically, they are the people who find much joy in watching Netflix or YouTube alone, for example, but will socialize as well. Discipleship, however, is a multi-faceted action. The common view of discipleship is becoming a mentor to someone seeking to know more about Christ, get involved in a ministry, etc. Discipleship is relational. It’s nearly impossible to walk someone through growing closer to Christ without educating them in their shortcomings, but also getting to know them as a person to know how to minister to them. The main focus of this post will be centered around the relational aspect of discipleship – trying to disciple others and building that relationship while being introverted and having ADHD.

Think about a time when God gave you a chance to share Jesus directly with someone. If you’re like me, you probably shied away from the situation or started rambling. It’s not uncommon for me to do either of those things, because it can be intimidating. Even in study groups, I’ve been known to just sit there and have a coherent thought yet make it seem like I speak in tongues when I verbalize said thought.

In reality, when you make Jesus Christ your priority, sharing your faith is just talking about the Son, Father, and Holy Spirit. It can be retelling others’ stories to help guide the conversation, or sharing your own experiences to make the talk become more personal. Being vulnerable, though, can be a struggle when you find it tough to talk to others or become drained around others. For example, I often find it hard to focus after a certain point when I’m with a group of other people because I expend so much energy fighting my ADHD to focus on what is happening in front of me instead of around me.

The question quickly becomes how to resolve the issue. How can someone who is shy, is introverted, and has a problem focusing when there’s a shiny red ball everywhere be still and talk about Christ to others?

One way is to look at how Christ did His talks. The times He spoke were never in a situation that involved Him being hurried. Even when a matter seemed very important to the people seeking Him, Jesus took his time (i.e., John 11). Even in His sermons, we don’t see Jesus as someone rushing; He spoke with calmness but also authority. We, too, can look at this as a sign that we should approach these conversations with calmness. A famous saying is, “It’s a marathon not a sprint.” This means that the journey is long and we need to pace ourselves, not try to get things done quickly and exhaust ourselves easily. So instead of feeling like you need to throw everything about Jesus to someone right away, take it slow. The vast majority of the time, if we push the topic hard and fast, it’ll lead people further away from the discussion.

Saying to take it slow is nice, but in what ways can we actually do this?

In a “class” I’m taking as part of entering missionary work, we are talking solely about relational discipleship. While this is something I will cover more in depth in another post, one very important thing that was said recently was, “Tell people how something reminds you of Jesus.” An example given was that the person was spending time with some coworkers making naan bread. During that time, he mentioned how the bread reminds him of Jesus. The coworkers asked why/how, and it allowed him to talk about how Jesus is the bread of life for him without it being forced. Of course, the conversation was guided by the connection of bread and Jesus, but something we need to remember as Christians is that we need to go to the people; people won’t come to us. So we need to find simple ways to just talk about how Jesus is important to us.

If you find it hard to focus when sharing stories about Christ to others, consider your surroundings. For me, it’s easier to be at a restaurant or café when talking about things like this. If I need time to think of what to say or how to form a thought properly, I can take a drink or a bite of food. However, others may not find it as convenient for them. Perhaps they get easily sidetracked when they look at the menu. Perhaps you could meet at a park and bring up how the scenery or nature reminds you of Christ. Be intentional in your thoughts. Christ was intentional with everyone He talked to because He was intentionally talking about the Father.

The last thing I wanted to talk about here is what I said before, where we have to go to the people because they won’t come to us.

This is probably one of the most scary aspects of seeking discipleship. When you have ADHD, you can also have perfectionism, which makes it harder to accept failure; things turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy if you will. Being a follower of Christ and following the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) is definitely not easy. However, we need to speak to those who do not yet know Christ, which is why it’s important to know ourselves who Christ is. There are many ways to start a discussion, both direct and indirect. The important thing is to keep Christ at the center of it all. In doing so, we can go to others and share who Christ is to us.

Before going to talk to others, simply answer, “Who is Jesus to me?” From there you can talk freely. I don’t have kids, but I share how since knowing Christ, I have become a much more loving husband. This is especially valuable to a newlywed or someone struggling to keep their relationship alive. While the person may come to me asking for help or venting, I’m still going to that person with the intentionality of Christ being the solution instead of providing secular advice.

Introverted ADHD doesn’t mean we can only be a backseat Christian, but it does mean we have to be more intentional than others. The important thing is to keep Christ first, and be aware you may not have all the answers when God puts you into a place of talking about faith, but that God will direct your conversation.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

Anxiety seems to be a topic I either talk or write about frequently. It’s definitely a part of me that evil tries to use against me, and it succeeds so very much. In fact, earlier in the day that I wrote this article, I had some pretty intense panic attacks and didn’t even know why!

At the start of this year, I committed to God that I would treat Him as the ultimate authority above all else. Whether that be decision making, desires, paths to cross, etc., I decided to make a conscious effort to consult and pray with petitions for it all (Philippians 4:6-7). While I have failed at that more often than not, ultimately this is an important piece to recent events that have caused some significant anxiety within me.

With that commitment in mind to God, it had been a drastic whirlwind inside. There were moments where I was as cool as a cucumber, and other moments where I was as frantic as a person drowning and unable to swim (speaking from experience). The balance has definitely been a struggle in being able to keep grounded in faith. The turning point, though, for all of this happened after “suffering” constantly for a few weeks.

I really hadn’t been in God’s Word like I knew I should have. How else am I really going to hear God if I’m not focusing on Him? Even though I had been praying to God all throughout this to either keep the path clear or destroy it as you please if it’s not your will, I needed to be obedient to God. I woke up one morning at 4:30 AM in a panic attack. The first thing I did was dig into my devotional book of Jesus’s parables. I can’t say that the parables helped, but just reading the Scriptures and thinking and meditating on them started to bring me peace. The parable I read was about the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8). The significance to reading this in my emotional state was realizing I needed to be more persistent in praying to God and what I pray on. If I truly wanted God to be my guiding light through life, then I needed to seek Him more constantly.

I wish at this point I could say that everything was peachy, that the weight of anxiety started lifting. But reality had other plans, slapping me with more anxiety and testing my commitment and reliance on God. There were some periods in that escalation when I felt like giving up on life, asking if things are worth this. Not only did the original matter become a bigger part of the anxiety, but another problem arose as well that made it even worse. These are the times where you often just know evil is trying to create that division.

Ultimately, though, it helped me to remember what sin is. (Check out recent writings by fellow blog writer Charlie Wolcott for more on this.) At its core, sin is any separation between God and man (or me in this case). This means that the increased anxiety trying to consume my thoughts, dreams, and life was trying to separate me from God by directing my very soul to the problems I was dealing with. The sad thing is, I had no control over either problem, so I was having all this anxiety regarding things that I couldn’t do anything about to begin with. So then why was I allowing this division, this sin, to happen to begin with?!

It was at these revelations that I realized I needed to just focus on God. I needed to acknowledge the anxiety, fears, and thoughts but let the Prince of (amazing) Peace come save me. After all, if I'm telling people He’s my Lord and Savior, why am I not depending on Him as such?

I have a Korean-English bilingual bible that has hymns in it. My thought wasn’t to go to them, but I ended up opening the Bible to one of them. In fact, what I opened up to was a hymn called 너 근심 걱정 말아라 (Be Not Dismayed Whatever Betide) that has a repeating phrase of “God will take care of you.” I would say this greatly reminded me, especially as I kept re-reading the hymn, that God will in fact take care of me. This then led me to reading the psalm it is inspired by (Psalm 91), which I read a few times. In fact, I even read it today while having a pretty noticeable panic attack. Through my reading, I have been praying to God, praising and bringing my fears to Him.

Things aren’t perfect by any means, and I’m still fighting anxiety pretty heavily. But reading Psalm 91 brought me to reading through Ephesians (with a heavy heart towards chapter 6). This whole exchange has tested my ability to rely on God, to trust Him with things in my life, and to realize just how wonderful and peaceful He is when I’m in His presence. I don’t regret having had to go through all of this, and the talks I’ve had with people also guide me in it. Right now, my spirit basically demands more Scripture, and I try hard to satisfy that thirst.

Amen.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

If you’ve been a Christian within the last 2,000 years, I’m almost certain the experience of a spiritual valley has hit you at least once. I’m not referring to those fleeting bouts of annoyance with your church or brother in Christ but the real deep valleys – those times where you sit there in your chair, staring at your Bible and just say to yourself, “Why am I even doing this?”

These are some testing times, and to put it bluntly, they suck. You can feel like there’s no hope, rhyme, or reason for things to be going on. If you’re in a disagreement with a fellow Christian, you can even start thinking, “If this is what Christianity is then forget it.” Even just having faith for a few years now, I’ve experienced these emotions more than once. In this blog post, I want to recap those experiences so far, and then address ways that I went about handling the situation. Along with that I’ll share some experiences in hindsight. While I might sound like I’m complaining in describing the events, I truly am not, but that’s one of the things you may realize once you start getting out of that valley.

The first time I experienced this was back in January of 2020. I was going in for some major surgery (a heart cath) and was afraid. Luckily everything turned out fine, but the recovery from it was kind of brutal. My wife was going through some things on her own, having to quit her job not long before, and she was probably more afraid than I was during the procedure since I did have a risk of dying. But, at no point before, during, or after did my church show any support or love to us. The pastor offered some comfort before, but he was on vacation while I was gone and didn’t reach out to me after he returned. None of the elders reached out to us to see if we needed anything or how we were doing. Only one time did anyone reach out (besides the kids we were pastoring to at the time, God bless them), and that was to just say, “Hope to see you in church soon.” For a month, we dealt with fear and depression, and it just intensified immensely the last 2 weeks of that. We felt alone, unloved, and unimportant. After we got out of this valley, though, my wife confessed that she was afraid I was going to give up on my faith. Sometimes that thought crossed my mind, but then I reminded myself that my loyalty is to Christ, not to the church. But it took a long while to even want to pick up my Bible again.

Even though I haven’t yet experienced such a deep valley again, the intense dread of the matter recently crept up again. I won’t go into the details much as I don’t want to support gossip. However, things came to a head when I started realizing just how a person I had asked to mentor me had changed in their theology since the start. They became a different person to me, and I wasn’t the only one to see it. But this being the 3rd person I’ve held in high regard on a personal level, I basically felt abandoned and hurt. I’m very much for showing and extending love and grace to others, but we can’t be selective on who we extend that to. From my perspective, the situation became very hypocritical, and that was the very thing this person has been adamant about not being. I could also be wrong on my observation, and I hope so, but I remember after speaking my emotions out to them, I was thinking, “Man, if this is what I gotta deal with as a Christian, is it even worth it?”

Now, this isn’t to say that the road was paved in death the whole way through. There were definitely bouts of sunshine and rainbows spread throughout the journeys. But, when we’re in those valleys, it’s hard to remember them let alone look back and see it.

I can’t honestly explain how I recovered from the first instance. I remember waking up on February 1, 2020 and feeling like an immense darkness had been lifted. Now, during that month of the valley, I prayed and tried to keep a relationship with God as best as I could. So I can always say God lifted me from the depths of my own personal hell. But, at the same time, almost all of those prayers felt like they were bouncing off walls and satellites. I also hadn’t been reading the Bible, so it was much more of a one-way conversation, unfortunately. But, the fascinating thing to me is that my wife, who had been struggling just as bad as me, shared the same thoughts on the same day.

As for the second trial of fire, it’s been a really different experience. Between the first valley and now, I’ve gained a much deeper understanding on how the Spirit directs me most often. When something is God’s will and not just my own will, I sense an incredible feeling of peace about it. Unfortunately, what brought me that peace was accepting the difference in theological views and realizing that for my personal growth to not be stunted, I needed to step away from such a deep relationship with them. I love them dearly, but I love them enough to know when it isn’t healthy as well. This is probably one of the biggest lessons I learned from this valley.

Both times, and with all the other more minor valleys I’ve had, perseverance was definitely key. It’s very easy to walk away from God when things get tough.

Some would say to be in the Word, read it more, etc. But, I can’t sit here and suggest that because each situation is going to be different. But, I will suggest finding a Christ-focused, Bible-believing person and talk with them about your valley. Keep in mind to not start gossip, and the easiest way is to only focus on “I.” If you can read the Bible, then by all means do it. But, if we’re being practical about these situations, it’s not always comfortable to read such a book, especially when you’re already at the point of doubting your faith. Even as an introvert, I’ve found much more success in this most recent valley talking to others about my emotions than I did keeping everything internalized during the first one.

A passage I held close to my heart during this last valley is from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2: “Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.”

The book of 1 Thessalonians is one of the few epistles that has deep praise for keeping true to the Christian faith even during turbulent times. It reminds me of what the book of Jude was meant to be originally (Jude 1:3: “Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.”).

I know that I was on a righteous path to Christ before I got tossed into the valley. While I tumbled my way to the bottom, it wasn’t impossible to rebound. The opportunity granted me the time to understand that my faith was unstable. The way back to Christ was to build my faith on a sturdier foundation than I had previously. So the first book I reached for from my bookshelf was What Every Christian Ought to Know by Adrian Rogers. The next book I’ll be reading is Worldview Warriors’ very own Charlie Wolcott’s Biblical Foundations. While my faith is still building firmer, these resources from a biblical perspective have helped me explore the Bible deeper (such as digging into 1 Corinthians 14) and to learn what is needed to grow further with God.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

There’s an interesting aspect of Christianity that I think we often overlook, and that’s the church. I don’t mean the representation of the body of Christ, but the buildings we go to every Sunday, Wednesday, or other day and sing songs of praise about our Lord.

Back in 2019 or so, God started putting it on my heart to really inspect the church – not just the one I was attending when I was youth pastor, but the overall landscape. In doing so, I started asking some really tough questions, most of which I still struggle with answering to this day. Is the church growing? If so, then how is it growing exactly? Who can I look to and see Christ working in their lives to extend grace, and not just answering prayers about self? How can I be like Christ if everyone lives their life without Christ outside of a few hours every Sunday?

Not long ago I caught an online sermon from a church my mentor was watching, and it was pretty good, focusing on Martin Luther King and his ministry for unity. During that broadcast, a man by the name of Daryl Davis came up. His fame is that as a black man he befriended someone in the KKK, and not just anyone but one with immense power within that group. You can watch one of his TEDx talks about the matter if you’re interested.

This man did what I’ve never seen a Christian do: he loved an enemy knowing very well that it may cost him his life. In return, his enemy loved him enough to have a conversation about the differences, and neither man killed the other. Whether either man is a professing Christian or not, I’m a firm believer in the sovereignty of God and see it as His working through each of them to demonstrate what unconditional love is. Neither man really gained anything by sitting down and talking, but also neither rejected the other due to some pretentious stigma.

I used to tell people that I’m a Reformist, and follow the TULIP principle to the fullest. Not long ago I even wrote an article here about what it is. I still believe in the whole acronym, but having seen that pastor talk about Daryl and really evaluating what Christ is doing around and in me, I’ve come to the realization that the church is spiritually dead. When a tree dies, it’s not just its limbs or its trunk that perishes, but every single element of it. Just like a tree, when the church dies, it causes those who keep in it to spiritually die as well, unless they are able to separate from it and replant elsewhere.

My sample size of churches is small, as I’m sure there are very healthy churches out there. The one I mentioned earlier who showcased Daryl’s story is one of those. They are inviting people of all colors, creeds, and locations into their studies and services. That is what Christ calls us to do, regardless of how we feel about it.

Going back to the tree metaphor, a tree does not mature by staying a seedling. It needs nourishment, attention, and care even if just by nature itself. These trees are the ones that grow mighty, tall, and prosperous, providing shelter and protection to all the little things like it once was. If a tree isn’t able to receive that love and care that it needs, then at best it never grows beyond a little bush. However, more often than not it dies, losing its lusciousness and ability to be anymore more than firewood.

If you’re in a church that goes out into the community for the purpose of Christ more than itself, then it's a body of believers knowing Christ will guide them.

Matthew 28:19-20 gives us the command that Christ asks each believer to follow: glorify God. How can we glorify God when we’re condemning sinners or making God out to be a vending machine, giving us what we want when we want it? Neither end of the spectrum does anything but boost our own ego. How did Christ treat the Pharisees versus the Samaritan woman at the well? He condemned those who are boasting of righteousness, while He gave grace to those who lost hope.

This isn’t to say we shouldn’t address someone’s sin, but we need to be able to read the room as well. If a person is yelling and screaming at their kid, then we should do what we can to help defuse the situation. If someone is saying, “I’m going to heaven because I donated all my money to charity,” then we should tell them that they’re only going to heaven by having faith in Jesus Christ. We are not called to condemn, because then we play God. Instead, we are to share the gospel – the truth about Jesus Christ – and let the Spirit convict the person. While we are to live a Christ-like life, we can also take to heart what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:1-3: “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,”

Hebrews 10:25 says to not forsake fellowship or gathering. There’s a plethora of reasons why this is so, and Jesus made it clear as well by sending people out in pairs and depending on others. Sunday services should be our primary way of fellowship, and not for the little bit before and after service, but it should be the service – gathering together, talking about how God has worked in our lives, where we need more grace, supporting one another through trials, and lifting up. When the only time we can do this is during Bible studies, and Bible studies are an afterthought for so many, then fellowship seems to be an afterthought as well.

Are you living a life glorifying God? Are you living to glorify Jesus as your Lord and Savior? In what ways are you contributing to the health (or death) of the body of Christ?

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

Fellow Worldview Warriors blogger Charlie Wolcott wrote a post on New Year's Eve talking about the movement of creating a theme for a given year on how God will bless you. As someone who isn’t a part of the “Word of Faith” movement, yet does set a yearly theme, I thought it would be beneficial to provide a side thought on this topic.

Charlie makes a great directive in adding “how God will bless you” to his topic. I think as Christians we should acknowledge the blessings God does give us, but they are within His will, not ours. There are definitely areas where people will make statements such as, “2022 is the year God will give me a million dollars a month!” Of course, we know God is not an ATM or a vending machine as it’s not scripturally supported anywhere.

But instead, I implore you to determine if having a theme for a year, month, or day is chastising the concept of faith.

Since 2019, I’ve personally had a theme for each year. I reflect near the end of the year to see what areas I’m weak in, and I pray to God about what He wants me to strengthen in the coming year. It may not even be an area I see, such as the first year it was patience. During my reflection, I didn’t see an issue with my patience, but God did.

What we need to do is evaluate what the purpose is of our actions. As humans and Christians, we should be growing, expanding, and looking forward. I’m just as guilty as the worst for staying complacent; it’s why I was in a relationship for 3 years too long. That experience alone taught me, even before I truly believed in Christ, that I need to grow and learn from experiences.

If you’re someone who needs or enjoys structure, it may benefit you to have a theme for a season. Due to my ADHD and introvertedness, I’ve discovered journaling has helped me. While the structure of the journal can change, I have some foundation. For example, for the month of January, I’m tracking my mood in the morning and evening, along with making a conscious effort to be a better husband. I’m doing this by structuring the expectations I set for myself. If you’re familiar with the bullet journal method, you’ll quickly understand.

I look at each year as being a season, and within that season there are sub-seasons. So in 2019, my main season was growing in patience, and I experienced various flows that either helped or regressed my growth. But each one taught me yet a new lesson on pivoting. Sometimes the pains were pleasurable; other times I felt like quitting. But, my focus wasn’t on me but on God.

While I can’t remember what my theme was for 2021, in thinking back during that time I can easily see where I did and did not grow. God definitely ran me through the ringer so to speak a few times, and there were times I regressed. But the only expectation there was of God was His forgiveness and blessing of strength and guidance.

There’s no reason either for this to happen only on January 1 each year. If you end up reading this post at any point of the year, start then if you like. Just like exercise, the best time to start may have been yesterday, but today is only tomorrow’s yesterday.

For me, any theme for any intent should be Jesus-centered. Things like “self-development,” “self-esteem,” or anything else prefixed with “self” is idolatry. We are made in the image of God, meaning at each of our core is God in some fashion; this is NOT, however, saying we are “little Gods.” To get a better sense of what I mean, Rick Lawerence wrote a great book I recommend reading: Jesus-Centered Life.

If you’re interested in starting a process like this but are not sure where to start, prayer and petition to God is where I would start. Ask for Him to soften your heart, open your eyes, and guide you in the process. Once God directs you to an area to focus on, seek His guidance on how to accomplish change. Journal if you like, start off running if you want, or go at a comfortable pace if you feel that’s best. It’s a very personal journey that people can only support you on, not tell you what to do.

Ultimately, it’s up to us on an individual level to listen to the Spirit on whether we should embark on any situation, how to navigate it, and when to pivot. God didn’t call us to stay still and keep complacent. We should continuously look to grow in the Spirit, Word, and love of God. If that includes theming a Jesus-centered development, then let it be so.

For me, my 2022 theme will be “Jesus First”:

Do you have a theme or word for the year? Share it in the comments!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

Before I start off with this post, I feel it’s important to define what I mean when I say “introvert.” Webster defines it as “having a disposition that is taxed by social engagement and energized by calm environments, resulting in the preference for quiet solitude.” Most people I know think of introverts as one who refuses to talk and would rather be in the shadows. That by its nature is what shyness is, and since I have both qualities about myself, I feel now is a good time to discuss how someone like me can glorify God.

For years I always thought that to glorify God meant that I had to be in the trenches, preaching the Word on every street corner, or else I wasn’t serving God well enough (or at all). Ultimately I feel this stemmed from surrounding myself with people who would say “I’m glorifying God” while doing such acts and never being exposed to anything else. I was a product of my environment, as they say.

I run a ministry (He Brews Ministries) where I had the intent of focusing on helping others grow in their faith. I started a podcast in the ministry (He Brews Faith) to help deliver those messages, and I struggled with finding a right balance of God and personal accounts. I’ve also started having an increasing desire to play music again, but I’ve been struggling in understanding if it’s worth putting my time into and how it would be glorifying God. On top of that, I’ve also been trying to learn Japanese, Korean, and to a different level, Biblical Greek while having a 9-5 job. I needed to only focus on what glorified God, but none of them really seemed to fit the criteria I understood for what “glorifying God” entailed.

With my podcast, I didn’t feel confident or know how to advertise. Also, I was never really comfortable with what I had to say because of perfectionism. Everything was compared against “Is God the focus?” even when I already knew the answer was yes.

When it comes to playing music, the question was simply “Why?” The music I wanted to play didn’t fit anything I knew others wanted to play (melodic or ambient Christian stuff). This meant I would always be doing it solo, yet it’s more enjoyable when I can gather with others. How could I glorify God by playing bass in a room in my basement?

Learning languages can be very taxing when just learning one, let alone 3. For a few years now, I’ve felt called to serve God overseas in Asia, so it wasn’t so much “How is learning this glorifying God?” but instead “How can I glorify God by learning this?” We’re talking about going to countries where Christianity is between 1-15%, with the rest being mostly Buddhists or atheists.

But at the time of writing this post, I had a discussion with my fellow blog writer Katie about these feelings, which ended up giving me inspiration to write this article. In talking about these things, her response was simple but profound:

“Think about Jesus' life. Was He glorifying the Father when He went off alone to pray, when no one was around? I'd say yes, because 1) He was developing that relationship with the Father, and 2) He was preparing Himself for what was to come. I believe the same applies to us.”

Growing Closer to God

This has been a struggle for me since the beginning of my walk with Christ. I read the Bible, but that always felt like it wasn’t enough. I went to church, prayed, etc.; sometimes I felt like God was right next to me, and other times I felt like I couldn’t find Him if I tried.

My musical focus is Christian music, regardless of whether it’s fast or slow, metal or opera, or somewhere between. This means that at least on some level, I would be putting the focus on Christ, even if I just played while sitting in a little room in my basement. Daniel went to his room every day and prayed. Prayer itself doesn’t have to be something elaborate; it’s a time of just sitting with God and talking. Through that, you build up that relationship and closeness with the Lord.

Prepare For Calling

As I said, I have felt called to serve God in Asia for a while now. Learning a language is the best way to communicate with people, and both Japan and Korea are very appreciative of anyone who tries to speak their language. This is one path I have no real answers figured out besides “I need to learn the language,” and I also know I don’t need to be perfect at it. But maybe one way of talking about Christ is someone asking why does my music sound a certain way, and I talk about the influence of God and the Holy Spirit.

Enjoying God-Given Gifts

I’ve always been the most creative one in my family except for one of my uncles. While I was in high school, I used to write a lot of poetry, and when I went to college I started learning guitar (along with bass and keyboard). I even crochet every so often to help calm my ADHD.

When I started becoming a Christian, though, I boxed up all that creativity, because I felt like it was getting in the way of serving God. However, by ignoring that part of me, I’m also ignoring how God created me. I’m effectively saying, “God, I know you made me to be creative, but it’s not good enough for me to serve you.” You know how heart-wrenching that is when you realize you’re basically slapping God in the face?

The objective here isn’t to fill our available time with random or mundane actions. But we also shouldn't stifle God’s creation and blessings as well. In doing so, we’re no different than Jonah, but we may not have a whale to rescue us. I would like to say Christ is that proverbial whale, but deep down Christ already did all He could to rescue us.

Glorifying God can be through many avenues, outlets, and explorations. Not everything is going to be golden or right, but we also don’t always need to be tossing Bible verses at someone or educating them on sin to give God glory. Take a good step back, make a leap if you have to, and really analyze the situation. Perhaps even instead of asking “How is this glorifying God?” we should instead ask “How can I glorify God through this?”

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

In my last article, I mentioned some (mostly hidden) struggles that a Christian who has ADHD may run into. Like my theology, I respect the issues but would much rather look to the solution. As a Christian, our solution to all of our problems is Christ, but ADHD can put a damper on believing that. So what about ADHD can be considered a blessing?

Hyperfocus

While it is true that hyperfocusing can be an issue, it can also be a blessing. There have been days I sit and read the Bible, study it, and meditate (read: think) on it. I first realized I could do this back in high school, and thought it was a superpower more than anything.

When we hyperfocus, we can get to a point where everything around us is silenced. We drill into what it is we are doing. I imagine it is close to the times Jesus went alone to pray. He didn’t want any distractions when talking to the Father, and He knew what to do.

Granted, it can be difficult to turn it on or off, but when used with aides to keep aware of what time it is (i.e., so we remember to eat), we can truly give God all of our attention and be attentive to Him.

Emotional Dysregulation (Mood Swings)

How can emotional dysregulation (lets call it EmD for short) be positive? I feel this is definitely one of those elephant-in-the-room elements.

The linked article makes it sound like it’s a horrible thing, and it can be (as with most worldly things). But, once we start putting it into the frame of “God blessed me with this because through Him, He knew great things can happen,” then the world becomes a bit less dark.

One thing that people can often forget is that a Christian is still human. Having EmD exposes us to extreme emotions, but that allows us to experience humanity that much more. If you join a Christ-centered group like Celebrate Recovery, for example, you’ll be exposed to people going through a lot of emotions, too.

Having been through Celebrate Recovery myself for food addiction, I saw people come through with addictions mostly to drugs and alcohol. These emotions would often make them feel alone or in a dark pit. One of the best gifts God can ever bless us with while on Earth is the ability to use ourselves as a vessel to spread His love. By this I mean that a connection can be made based on such raw, vulnerable emotions, which can then let you express how Jesus’s blood brings you rest.

Procrastination

This is definitely one that can be annoying. I can give you a list longer than time it feels like where I’ve procrastinated. But this can be a positive in the Christian world as well. But let's also group running late into this as well, as it’s usually a byproduct.

The end result when I procrastinate is “I wish I didn’t waste my time!” The more I realized just what I was (not) doing, the more I asked myself why:

• Why don’t I just do it?
• Why do I wait so long?
• Why can’t I get that time back?
• Why don’t I make better use of my time?

This brought me to realize that the same applies to my faith. I can’t sit around and wait for the “perfect opportunity” to come along to serve God. I need to be doing what I can now to prepare for what He’s laid on my heart, even if I have to pivot halfway through. It’s helped me realize the value of my time where I spend it.

Imposter Syndrome

It’s common to feel like you don’t deserve something or that you could work harder. This is basically what imposter syndrome is, where you reject praise and accomplishments because you feel undeserving of them.

The greatest part about this feeling is that it’s exactly the story of the Bible. The Old Testament is full of the moral law (working harder for grace) and showing that it’s not work that gets you that grace. We then get to the New Testament, where God’s redemption of His people comes about, and we realize that we don’t deserve that grace to begin with. Yet, even through our faults, He gives it to us anyway.

This not only allows us to express the gospel in a relatable way, but we also gain a much deeper, relational, and personal understanding of God’s love. I feel that those without imposter syndrome can spend years achieving what those with it can discover in a fraction of that time. It’s not a race by any means, but it helps us connect the dots faster, quicker, and easier.

Comparing Yourself

I ended the struggles article with this, and I feel it’s fitting to end the blessings with it as well. At its core, I feel that this is the epitome of an ADHD’s internal struggle and encompasses everything above and more.

On an almost daily basis, it feels like I recall commenting on a post on a Reddit forum on Christianity saying that we should always try to be Christ even though we’ll never achieve it. The person I was responding to gave me a paraphrased response of, “Haha! That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”

Given our EmD, perfectionism, procrastination, hyperfocus, and a myriad of other adjectives, we can greatly model Christ’s humanity. We’ll never achieve it fully, but already outlined here are models of who and how Christ is. While He never compared himself to anyone, He did have great empathy, focused solely on God, had bouts of frustration, and felt not just pain but glory.

I’m a fan of Tony Evans. In his book Kingdom Man, he talks about how Christ entered his family. The long story short is that Tony’s dad came to Christ first, and that drove a deep wedge between father and mother. His mother would constantly try to push his dad away, and his dad would not fight but love. One night, his mom came to his dad, crying and asking why he’s not rejecting her while she is him and she wants what he has. At that point, a family came together in Christ out of love and modeling Christ.

I wouldn’t suggest trying to cast out demons, but I would definitely suggest grabbing a friend if you can and go tell someone about Christ. Look at how Christ talked to certain people, and try to model that. He didn’t go to the well and immediately tell the woman she was a sinner; first, He asked her for some water (John 4). He also didn’t go to the Pharisees and immediately tell them they were sinners, but when they spoke, He spoke the truth.

Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity to glorify God. Read the room, but also make the opportunity. If you see someone looking distraught, don’t be afraid to speak with them. If you see someone happy, don’t be afraid to ask them what brings them so much joy.

ADHD is often categorized as a disability, placed under the same umbrella term with things like amputation, bipolar disorder, etc. Realistically, though, something is only a disability if we can’t see the blessings it gives us when it comes to helping our Father. As of this writing, I’m 34 years old, and for 20+ of those years I felt like I was un-human since I struggle to do some things I see others do without thought. That was before I accepted the way I’m designed and truly appreciated that God made me in such a way that He knew that through Him, I can serve Him fully. I hope to continue sharing my experiences of this walk through life with everyone, and so I’m also treating this as a running series where I can share such matters with you.

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by Eric Hansen

Some of the hardest things we can write about are criticisms about us. This is no different, especially since I’m just starting to broach this topic on a personal level. But first I think some clarification on ADHD is necessary. The “H” in it stands for hyperactivity, but that doesn’t mean one has to be constantly moving physically. There are actually 3 types of this: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined. The hyperactive-impulsive is what we normally call ADHD, but the combined version is most common. While I don’t agree with some of the wording of symptoms (i.e., “careless mistakes”), if you feel you fall into any of these 3 camps, please see your doctor about it. This post or series isn’t meant to give you a diagnosis; only a proper medical professional can do that.

When we start going to church and exploring our faith, we often hear things such as “have quiet time” or “just read the Bible.” For some this may be super easy to do or build a routine for, but for others like myself, this has been extremely daunting to the point of questioning if I’m saved. Even if I remind myself that as long as I believe Christ is my Lord and Savior and died on the cross for my sins, I can still doubt because I can’t just do it. This is made even worse for me because I am an introvert and I internalize all these emotions.

The fact of it all, though, is that we just need to better understand how we function. It’s very probable you cannot sit in quiet space for more than a minute before your brain vrooms right off the Prayer Interstate. ADHD people are better with stimulation, and intrinsic (or internal) motivation often isn’t enough to make us stick to any sort of prayer routine, let alone exercise. That dopamine hit we get when we start doing it can quickly fade away even as soon as the next day, and we’re left wondering why we don’t feel joy anymore from doing it. This can lead to burnout, depression, or a multitude of other emotions. So what can we do about this? It mostly depends on what problem you’re trying to solve, but let's look at a couple.

Prayer Time

It’s no secret we need quiet prayer time with God if we want to build a real relationship with Him. This doesn’t mean do it at night while going to bed (a bad habit of mine), since our minds can quickly start wandering and we need rest.

If you are someone who loves reading, explore the psalms during your free time (first waking up, lunch, etc.). They are God-fearing and God-honoring prayers on different topics. A good concordance in your Bible can help you with a theme as well. I don’t suggest a digital Bible if you can help it, because the more senses you can utilize the less distracted you will likely become. If you use a phone or tablet, you’ll get notifications, texts, etc. that can deter you. Instead, go somewhere with a physical Bible so your hands and eyes are doing something.

Overdoing Bible Time

While there’s no doubt that reading the Bible as much as we can is a good thing for our soul, God also has given us various responsibilities and commitments that we need to honor. If you are a hyper-focused ADHD who can’t get away from something once they start, set a timer. If you have a smart watch or a health tracker like a Fitbit, set a timer to go off. I’ve started doing this even for non-Christian tasks like lunch because I can often get caught up revisiting my work while waiting and forget all about my food.

Just Doing It

While sometimes it’s good to just make yourself do something, it can also hurt your spiritual growth as well. If you struggle with just sitting down and doing something, consider making it something you do earlier in the day. For lack of a better thought, getting the “worst of it out of the way” so, worst case, your hyperactive mind can reflect on it longer throughout the day.

Committing To It

An extremely common trait of one with ADHD is starting but not finishing something. There are about 10 scripts and 5 outlines of content for my ministry and Worldview Warriors sitting in my “inbox” still.

Being a Christian is a 24x7x365 commitment, and one not even the greatest can achieve. This is where having something like a todo list or journal of some sort (I’ve started going back to bullet journaling) can be great for you. Planning is a great thing for us to do, so we know what we’re committing to and what it will take to accomplish that goal. While this topic as a whole can take an article in itself, I’ll provide a good bullet journaling starter guide at the end of this article.

Comparing Yourself

Comparing ourselves to others is another common trait an ADHD person can have. This correlates more to perfectionism, but there’s a strong bisection between the two.

We can look at our pastor, elders, or others in the congregation and see how they may have the “perfect” Christian life. Even if we get to know them and realize they’re far from perfect and still going through sanctification like us, we can get caught in that comparison loop.

This is a very tough element to resolve. It took me a good few years of just asking myself why when I realized I was comparing myself to my best friend. It got even worse when my salvation started coming into the picture.

What has helped me is reflecting back on Jesus’s words, mostly the Sermon on the Mount (starting in Matthew 5). Jesus outlined there perfectly that sinners have a place in Heaven if they surrender to God, and while we will remain sinners on this planet, it’s by our faith that we will be justified. This made me realize that I didn’t need a fancy house or car, and my health may be bad, but God loves me regardless.

I’m doing this as a series since there’s so much to unload about this. There are some resources about ADHD and Christianity, but nothing (or at least fewer) about being an ADHD Christian. There’s scripture to help us remind our overactive minds to stay focused on God, but I want to explore not just what they are but how it can be practical and applied.

Resources:
How to Create a Bullet Journal Plus My Top 10 Tips
A Bible Study on Staying Focused

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Eric Hansen

To start this post off, I want to lay out some pre-understandings:

• I am a Reformist (more commonly referred to as Calvinist)
• This is not attacking anyone or a theology
• Ecclesiastes 3 makes it clear there’s a time for everything

What I want to address is how most reformed preachers deliver their messages. I’m talking about the Voddie Bauchums, Paul Washers, even R.C. Sproul. I covered the T.U.L.I.P. theology of Reformation before, and the foundation of Reformed theology is applicable, but I sense that how we should be giving the gospel to people has been lost.

It's Not Up To Us

We aren’t called to try and save people; that is God’s job. The only task God gave us was to make disciples to the ends of the Earth (Matthew 28:16-20). Nothing there says we need to add flavor to the Word. Why is it, then, that we do it?

Stop Pointing Out Sin

“Woah! What?!”

No, I’m not saying we should be “progressive.” But realistically, do we need to tell a homosexual, rapist, etc. that their deed is sinful and they will go to hell if they don’t repent?

I have started calling this John-ism because John the Baptist had this demeanor about him. We can then also look at where that got him (Matthew 14:1-13).

The objective here is to understand when we should call people out on their sins and when we should love them despite their sins.

This is one thing that drove me crazy as well when I first became a Christian. Everyone would say “be loving,” but no one could define “loving,” so let's do that. To be loving to someone:

• We must make sure our conversations with them are calm.
• Do not accuse them of their actions.
• Tell them we love them enough to help them with their struggles (best not to lie if you aren’t willing to commit, though).
• Less talking, more listening.
• Be like Jesus at the well to the Samaritan woman (John 4).

There’s a song I discovered recently called “Dear Mr. Christian” (stylized that way) that I feel addresses this perfectly in the chorus. It is Christian hip-hop so if that’s not your cup of tea I’ll cut to the point of the song: we as Christians as a whole are prone to point fingers and chastise instead of listen.

Remove You

Many street preachers like Ray Comfort love to give people the “Good Person Test.” Why?

This ties into “Stop Pointing Out Sin” but deserves its own area too. While there’s a time and place to address sin, a first meeting with them is typically not that time or place. If our goal is to go and make disciples, we should do so as Jesus did. How did Jesus then approach Simon Peter and Saul? Jesus didn’t start off by telling Simon that he was focusing on himself instead of others or Saul that he was a murderer.

For Simon, Jesus simply told him to cast his net out again and to follow him (Luke 5:1-11). With Saul, Jesus asked why the persecution but then quickly told him to follow His instructions (Acts 9:1-6). We can argue that asking why Saul was persecuting is the same as calling him a murderer, but even still, Jesus didn’t say to him “You’re a murderer, repent!” Instead He essentially asks, “Why are you hurting me?”

So then what can we do? I personally don’t see value in street preaching and telling everyone they’re “lying, thieving, adulterers at heart” as people like Ray Comfort will inform everyone, especially for those who have never read the Bible. Instead, we need to again look at how Jesus handled the situation.

The Pharisees got more blunt comments made towards them because they knew the law and defiled God’s instructions. They were the ones called to uphold the moral laws God gave, and yet they twisted them and added to them to please themselves. This is about the same as seeing an elder from your church chugging beers at a rave party every weekend. The expectation would be that you address their drunkard sin and raise the matter appropriately.

As referenced previously, the woman at the well (John 4:1-30) is a good example of how Jesus can walk us through those who haven’t heard the gospel. He didn’t ignore the sins she was carrying (like multiple marriages). The focus was more on what she can do about it versus the depravity of her spirit. Before he got to her sins though, he simply developed a conversation with her and showed compassion.

Start Living Like Jesus

No, I’m not saying to start saying you are Jesus, but we are called to model our Savior and Lord. So then why aren’t we?

I remember when I started exploring the Internet for Christian theology, I stumbled on a forum that touted itself as Christian-focused. While I don’t remember the specifics, what I can recall is mentioning to a poster that we are to live as much as possible as Jesus did (i.e.: Philippians 2:5-8; John 13:14-15; Ephesians 5:2). The response was basically, “Stop talking heresy to me!” I am not saying Reformist or Arminian teachers aren’t living like Jesus, but we need to pay extra attention to their words and watch their actions.

I’ll drive this point home with one more illustration. There’s an organization called End Abortion Now, created and led by Jeff Durbin who is a popular Calvinist. Their overall approach to ending abortion is to go to Planned Parenthood buildings with picket signs and a megaphone, talking about how Planned Parenthood murders babies.

While there are legal and biblical foundations to this claim, just how loving is this to those they are trying to save? They do save babies and they have shown proof of that, but how many more could be saved if they talked with the mothers and fathers about why they’re doing this instead of immediately blaming them? Some are done for selfish reasons like a Pharisee, but others are done out of fear, ignorance, or weakness.

Whether it's Reformed teaching or not, the important piece to always think about in anything you hear, read, or see is “Is this Biblical?” There’s good intentions in many things mankind does (or doesn’t do). That in itself, however, doesn’t make it Biblical or Christ-like. There is a reason why Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.